cathy

I wasn't sure what area to put this in. I am interested to hear everyone's thoughts on the quality known as "dala'a." Does it apply only to dance or is it a general personal quality or female quality? Is it a style? Does it feature more in Egyptian style than others?

Do you have to have it to be a good dancer? Which famous dancers have it the most?

Is it always a compliment if someone says you have it?

Is it the quality that leaves the viewer yearning for more? Like understatement (the opposite of beating the music to death?)

Does it mean any of the following: I'm so beautiful, you want me but you can't have me, saucy, flirtatious, sexy, spoiled, teasing?

And what is the relationship between this term, if any, with the name of the costume vendor, Dahlal?

Thanks, Cathy

Sofia

Dala'a could be translated into English as cute. There is a saying in Arabic that a child is dala'a, a woman should be it and a man never.

It is a searched quality of a good baladi dancer. To my understanding Fifi is the best example.

Outi

I haven't had the word translated, so I don't know the exact meaning.
In dance, in my experiences, the word is used to mean relaxed, soft, cute and feminine type of dance. Like a girl who knows she is beautiful and pretty and flirts in a soft way. But she flirts... It's not a dance style, it's an adjective. Some songs just need more of this dala'a stuff than others. Balady, some Alexandrian and a few shaby would be in the list.

It's a definitely a good.

Aisha Azar

Dear Cathy,
Are you talking about Delou'ah? (pronounced like deh LOU' ah). I have had the word describe to me as being a feminine adjective that expresses several things:
The girl is a flirt, she a slightly bratty in a fun way and she is adorable, not only or necessarily because of her looks but because of this slightly bratty, flirty quality.
It has nothing to do with dance, but might be a quality that dancers sometimes exhibit.
Regards,
A'isha

PS: I thought I should maybe do an addendum on this post. The Saudis and some of the Gulf guys use an affectionate diminutive with women to whom the feel close. For example, if someone is named Leila, her brothers, father and other close relatives or male friends of the family might refer to her as "Leiloolah", pronounced lay-LOO-lah. Cathy would be CathCOOthah, Sofia would be SofSOOfah and Donya would be DonDOOnah. I always know I am accepted as part of the family when I get the affectionate diminutive treatment!!

cathy

Dear A'isha and all,

Thanks for your comments.

It sounds like delou'ah could be the same term but I have seen it transliterated as dela’a or dalla3.

I was not sure whether this was the same word as in some of the song titles I have seen such as Ya Tatab Wa Dallaa by Shereen (which I have been told translates as “oh the comfort, oh the spoiling”), or Ya Dala Dallaa by Toufic Barakat.

In dance I like the qualities of charm, playfulness, cleverness, wittiness, slyness, tongue-in-cheek, understatement, leaving the audience yearning for more. If dela’a is the quality I see in great dance that is like effervescence or whipped cream—or little bits of gold or silver foil added on top of the usual pigments—I love it, I hope to be able to do it some day.

Personally I tend to enjoy less anything that strikes me as forced, fake, affected, calculated, manipulative, cutesey, coy, or diva-esque.

Qualities like cute, flirty, playful, suggestive can go either way, it seems to me. They can be genuine or calculated. I guess “bratty” can go either way also. Sometimes Dina strikes me that way. Sometimes I like it, other times I don’t. I was wondering whether this "dela'a" is the quality I was thinking of, and if so whether in its (to me) pleasing or not pleasing aspects. And whether I need to develop it to become a good dancer.

Here are some words I looked up in thinking about this term:

Charm—a trait that fascinates, allures or delights; physical grace or attraction; to affect by or as if by magic; to please, soothe, or delight; to protect by spells, charms, or supernatural influences.

(But to me it also has the potential for a slightly fake/affected undertone as in "what charming manners.")

Delight: to allure, to take great pleasure, to give keen enjoyment
Lovely: delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace: attractive
Dazzle: to shine brilliantly, to arouse admiration by an impressive display, to impress deeply, overpower, or confound with brilliance.

I'll probably never get to dazzle anyone, but seeing it just once is enough to never forget it and never want to stop trying for more.

Thanks, Cathy

Suheir

The precise word in English (French!) is coquette.

Salome

Hi Cathy,

A past member here, who was Arab, talked about this quality at length. I recall her saying something along the lines of it being a quality that westernes could understand as immature without having more of a context for it. She was talking about 'permissable' ways of flirting or ways of flirting you could get away with within the structure of an Arab society. Things like batting the eyelashes profusly... Do you have to have it to be a good dancer? If you are doing Egyptian raks, then in a sense, yeah. You would want to cultivate the qualities that make Egyptian raks Egyptian. Part of that is going to be understanding how the Egyptian dancer relates from her cultural stand point.

Mark_Balahadia

FYI Ya tabtab Wa Dala3 is by Nancy Ajram not Shireen and Ya Dala3 was composed by Farid el Atrache for Sabah. Toufiq Barakat wrote the words I believe.

Dala3 from what I gather means being silly and flirtatious. Dina is very "dala3" at times although a good portion of sex appeal is thrown in.

The concept of dala3 in belly dance is hard to describe to foreigners. I've sorta had to watch tons of Arab women dancing and singing to really get it...it's a feeling that's impossible to truly qualify. Watch Nancy Ajram when she is singing...she does dala3 very well.

cathy

Mark,

Thanks for the correction about Nancy Ajram and the info about the other song and about dala3.

I am going to see whether you have any youtube clips, I think you might. Do you consciously cultivate dala3? Only on certain songs?

Cathy

samsied

I always wondered if Nancy Ajram fit the concept of dala3. I think she is adorable. What about this video?